Something Dark
by DarkZero93
Summary: Something is stirring within the darkness, and both Riku and the Organization are caught in the middle. As newly restored worlds come under siege by the heartless, they begin to suspect that something more sinister may be at work. (Post-Chain of Memories)
1. Chapter 1

**Something Dark**

_A Story from Beyond the Realm of Shadows_

**I**

The darkness was stirring, and Riku could feel it. Its power would wax and wane, and it was more often than not connected to the presence of the Organization. One of their members was here, that was undeniable. However, their exact purpose was unknowable. Naturally, that was why Riku was observing them in the first place. Mickey had told him to keep an eye on their activities, and he wasn't prone to foolish or reckless actions. Unlike his counterpart and friend, Sora.

It wasn't often that Riku's travels brought him to the Dwarf Woodlands. Thus he was thoroughly enjoying the change of scenery, the scent of the forest realm, it was a new world to him and one that had only recently been restored after Sora had defeated Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

As his thoughts turned toward that being, Riku touched the inner reaches of his heart, where the very same Ansem resided. He was patiently waiting to regain control of his host. Despite Riku's victory over him at Castle Oblivion, he hadn't been able to purge him completely. He could still feel that dark, brooding presence. It was just waiting for him to lose control, or better yet, give in willingly.

That temptation was always there, gnawing away at Riku. Yet despite those thoughts, he turned his attention back to the forest around him just in time to catch sight of an individual in a black coat as they made their way through the gloom.

_Man, these forests are for the birds_, Demyx thought as he trudged awkwardly through the dense foliage. _With all of these shadows around, how am I supposed to know which ones are heartless? They all look like their moving._

Of course his associates, like that stick-up-his-ass Saïx, would tell him to hit the ones that were jumping at him. Like that advice would make things any easier. In any event, he was sent here for no other purpose than to recon a new world, gauge the number of heartless and see if it was fit for sending someone like Roxas in to do a little heart collecting.

Demyx thought about Roxas and that other girl that could use the keyblade, Xion…right? _Well, what's it matter anyway? They both carry big keys that look the exact same. No real depth to people like that. Not that we're people to begin with. Man, this stupid forest bites._

He traipsed onward, swatting away the tiny bugs that were buzzing away around his hood. He had half a mind to call up some water and blast them away, but that would only serve to make the ground soggy, and that was a big no-no in a place like this.

From what he'd seen so far, Riku was able to infer that his quarry was the ever-amusing Demyx. He'd been able to tell by the lazy way in which the nobody walked, and the slouched look that just screamed 'I don't want to be here'. Riku followed him discreetly, keeping to the shadows, as was his way.

Demyx was glancing at the shadows every once in a while, his hooded head turning left, then right, then left again, trying to see if he could spot any heartless no doubt. He would be disappointed, as the shadows were in short supply around these parts.

Yet even as Riku thought about it, something else shifted around them. The shadows lengthened and the gloom expanded, making the forest much darker than before. Demyx stopped in his tracks, and so did Riku. They both looked around to see what had changed, and as they did the shadows grew into a form larger than what Riku could have ever expected.

The heartless looked humanoid, but it had four arms and three legs, seemed to be able to float, and even had wings. The fingers of its hands weren't really fingers, but whip-like appendages with blades like axes at the ends. Its eyes were glowing red and fixated on Demyx, who stood directly in front of it. At least for a moment. He jumped out of the way at the last minute as it slammed its foot where he had been standing just a moment ago.

Demyx whipped out his sitar and launched a torrent of water in the shape of blue-white tendrils at the heartless's legs, trying to take it off balance. There was no immediate effect except to rattle the thing's frame. One of its whips knocked the nobody far into the woods, yelling as he was blasted off his feet.

_His odds weren't good anyway_, thought Riku. He readied his keyblade, Way to Dawn, and jumped from the shadows, lashing out at the tendrils, a few of which happened to be hanging near where Riku was. The hit connected, and there was a roar in reply, indicating that the heartless had felt the blow.

Riku jumped again, taking a shot at the legs. Though this hit connected as well, there was a moment where he was exposed to a blow from one of the heartless's free hands. The heartless took the chance and knocked Riku away, even as it dropped to the ground from the force of the blow that had taken it in the middle leg.

_It's powerful_, thought Riku. _Where did it come from? More importantly, why is it here?_ There was no time to dwell on those questions, as right now the heartless's existence was the highest priority. It needed to be finished off, now.

Riku stood and prepared to charge in again, but the heartless was just vanishing as he did so. It simply ebbed away as heartless do, without a trace and without leaving any evidence that it had been there. Glancing around the clearing, Riku saw no sign of Demyx, indicating that he must either still be unconscious and lying in a pile of leaves somewhere, or he was already gone.

Whatever the case, Riku had something else to think about. _Why have the heartless suddenly turned their attention to this world? Are they still seeking keyholes? I need answers._

With that thought, he opened his portal and stepped through, hoping he could find something elsewhere, and maybe with a bit of extra help these things would become clearer.


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

On the other side of Riku's portal was Twilight Town, a world that he had become accustomed to in recent weeks. In a state of perpetual sunset, the town always looked peaceful at an initial glance, but a few foraying packs of heartless had made their way into the back alleys and side streets lately. Riku materialized on the edge of the forest, just outside of town. He found a few dusks waiting for him, but they weren't focusing on him. As a matter of fact, they didn't even seem to notice his existence at the moment.

Riku observed the dusks as they slid away into the town, waiting to move until they were well out of range. He slipped into the town as silently as he could, keeping to the shadows and hoping that no heartless would pop in to welcome him. Given his proximity to darkness, it was always a possibility.

In the distance, he could see the clock tower looming over the town. Well, perhaps 'loomed' was the wrong term. It was more of a beacon of guidance, to always let you know where the center of town was. Somewhere in the distance, he heard a rail car trundling off to its destination.

As soon as he was near the underground rail station, he headed down. He didn't expect to find the king down here. It was merely Riku's first stop on his search of the town. If one thing was certain, it was that Mickey was definitely here in this world.

Down in the tunnels, a few heartless did appear. Not the big kind like Riku had found in the Dwarf Woodlands, but a few soldiers and shadows. He brought his keyblade out of dormancy and lashed out at a few of them, but he'd only destroyed one of the soldiers when the rest seemed to pop out of existence courtesy of the king. As fast as Riku was, there was no way he'd be that fast for years to come.

King Mickey was wearing the same style of black coat as Riku, and for the same purpose. He looked up at Riku expectantly.

Without wasting a moment, Riku said, "Your Majesty, we may have a situation."

"I expected as much," Mickey replied. "What is it?"

"The heartless have returned to worlds that we thought were safe," Riku elaborated. "The Dwarf Woodlands in particular…it's now home to a massive heartless, one that I've never seen before."

Mickey crossed his arms. "I hadn't expected news that bad. What did it look like?"

"Ten meters high at least," said Riku, "whips for fingers, four arms, three legs, and wings."

"So it's the same kind of heartless that I just encountered in the Land of Dragons," Mickey mused.

"What's controlling them?"

"That I don't know," replied the king, "but I do believe that it's just the one. It may be a vanguard."

"To what?"

Mickey shook his head. "Just speculation, really. There's really no way to tell without further investigation, and throwing ideas back and forth is getting us nowhere."

Riku paused, thinking back to what had happened. "I was following Demyx in the Dwarf Woodlands when it appeared. It took him by surprise as well, but he did catch sight of it. He'll probably report it back to the Organization, which would bring them to investigate it as well."

"Whatever the case," Mickey went on, "we'll need to look into it at once. "I've heard word that the Organization is going to get an operation going in Agrabah tomorrow. Think you can look into it?"

Riku nodded. "I'll get on it. What about you?"

"I'll be in Neverland," replied Mickey as he headed back into the darkness. "We'll meet near the mansion in two days time, Riku." He looked back. "Best of luck."

"You too…Your Majesty."


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

_Agrabah again_, thought Xigbar as he set eyes on the desert city once more. _This place never changes, heartless or no heartless. And I get sent out here to investigate some enigmatic monstrosity? It's a waste of my talents._

There was no denying that the heartless were here of course. They'd come in droves lately, and the locals had all barricaded themselves inside of their homes.

Xigbar was moving via the rooftops; keeping out of sight was far easier that way. _Not even sure why I'm here. Didn't that brainless kid Demyx say that he spotted that thing in the Dwarf Woodlands? _Saïx figured that it would be on the move, so he had Xigbar, Demyx, and Luxord looking out for it in three different worlds. A decent idea, but Xigbar had to suspect that Luxord just hated the woods right about now. Demyx had Neverland to himself for now, and Xigbar was in Agrabah because he'd specifically chosen it.

Even as he made his way on the rooftops above, Riku was watching him from the streets below, keeping an eye on his surroundings as well just to ensure that he didn't bump into any of the locals. Xigbar was keeping low on the rooftops, thus making him more difficult to tail. Riku had to go on sightings of black cloth from his coat, or the moments where he made his jumps from rooftop to rooftop, and moments like that were few and far between.

Riku guessed that Xigbar was here to investigate the same heartless he'd sighted in the Dwarf Woodlands. There was no indication that it had come to Agrabah, and Riku still hadn't quite pieced together how Mickey had known that the Organization would be coming here. That was a mystery best left for another time.

Suddenly, Xigbar came to a halt. Riku followed suit, shying away and back into an alley just off the main street. It had a clear view of the rooftop upon which Xigbar was standing, gazing at his surroundings cautiously. It was as though he was expecting trouble.

Of course that trouble arrived the next moment as heartless popped into existence all around them. Heartless of varying kinds, from sky soldiers to wyverns, and they all moved at once.

Xigbar was off the rooftop in a flash, his arrowguns in his hands as he pulled a spectacular backflip down onto street level. He caught sight of Riku as he did so. The hood of Riku's black coat was drawn up, naturally. Xigbar glared at him for a moment before leveling his guns. Riku dashed sideways to avoid the bolts as they peppered into the ground and walls near where he had been standing.

Xigbar's aim was good, but he found it difficult to hit a moving target, and Riku's blade was out and ready to go. "So it's you for real this time?" Xigbar yelled. "Good."

Using superior speed and agility, Riku closed the distance on Xigbar and knocked him off balance with a strike from his blade. Xigbar recovered, leapt back, and sent a few more bolts flying Riku's way. Riku lashed out at Xigbar, ignoring the stings of those bolts, only this time the latter was better prepared and ducked beneath the strike, teleporting some distance away and launching another flurry of bolts.

Riku dashed along the street and into the cover of an alleyway, where he opened a portal to transport him to a side street further down the main thoroughfare.

Xigbar was put off by Riku's sudden vanishing act. "Aw, man. Don't tell me you can't stand up and fight." Yet even at that moment, the shadows of the buildings lengthened, and heartless began pouring from every crevice and pool of darkness. They seemed to be focused primarily on Riku, and even as he began striking into them, Xigbar was vanishing.

Some distance away, another individual was watching Riku as he battled against the heartless swarms. He smiled as he observed Riku's technique, finding him to be a suitable test subject for his coming experiment.

_Let's see what manner of darkness his heart can create._

**(Author's Note: Looking to create an original character here. Feedback would be nice. Feel like I'm pumping a drying well.)**


End file.
